broken butterfly
by colorful swirls
Summary: can you keep falling for someone, even when they've already fallen? - cho/cedric, for lost love and queens that rule without their king. / winner of the april 2013 fan favorite awards.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

* * *

**once upon a time, there lived a princess**

She is beautiful, with her gleaming ink-black hair and dark eyes that draw people in. She learns how to flash bright white smiles at all the right times, how to grab attention.

One day, she'll be the queen, but for now, she is still trying to figure out how to be princess.

.:.

She has a gazillion dolls crammed under her bed, with a hundred different dresses and shoes to dress them in. Her parents question her: "Don't you want to play with my wand?"

But she doesn't. She doesn't care for magic, at least not yet. They wonder if she is a Squib—they worry, but it turns out they needn't have bothered.

Her magic is obvious and shiny once it works its way out of her.

.:.

They're all expecting Slytherin—she's always been too beautiful, too sly, too cunning. The Sorting Hat is the first to discover the spark of Ravenclaw inside of her, though.

_It takes smarts to be so sly_, the age-old hat chuckles. _You're quite a brilliant young lady, to have them all so fooled._

She beams her bright white smile as the frayed edges open up and shout, "RAVENCLAW!"

.:.

**once upon a time, there lived a prince**

He is born a tiny little boy, with his bright eyes and reddish-brown messy hair that is already prominent on his head as he squirms his way silently out of his mother's body.

He is a daddy's boy, that is clear from the start. Amos Diggory has always wanted a strong boy to be proud of, and while he might seem boastful at times, he means well.

All he wants is a strong boy to be proud of.

.:.

Cedric delivers this request, and quite nicely. Girls fawn over him, he shows an instant liking for Quidditch, and his scholarly abilities never falter for a second through of all this.

Everyone says he's a shoo-in for Gryffindor—he's brave and strong and handsome. But they've been looking at his image, not at _him_.

In truth, Cedric is a boy with all-too-many thoughts and never enough words to express his feelings, but he has a big enough heart to make up for this.

He _is_ brave and strong and handsome, but as the Sorting Hat realizes, there is a certain amount of loyalty in him that is just too huge to ignore.

"Hufflepuff!" the Hat declares, and his parents are shocked for weeks, but they get over it, because after all, he's sure to turn around the slight looked-down-upon reputation Hufflepuff has, anyway.

.:.

**our two heroes became acquaintances easily**

He meets her during his first lesson; they have double Potions with the Ravenclaws. There is only one seat open, next to some girl with black hair.

He slides into the chair beside her and turns around immediately, shaking her hand and saying, "I'm Cedric Diggory, a new Hufflepuff."

She giggles and takes his hand daintily and claims to be Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw, which surprises him. He would never pin her as Ravenclaw—aren't they supposed to be obsessed with their studies?

But this girl shows no interest in Professor Snape as he strolls into the room, saying, "Take our your book," lazily.

He finds himself instantly attracted, and they aren't particularly _close_ in the coming years, but he keeps a steady eye on her, waiting for her to break out.

.:.

It's his fifth year when he begins to have that sort of attraction for her. Suddenly, she's not just pretty, she is enchanting, and he fumbles a bit when she looks at him.

He doesn't act on his feelings, of course, because as the Sorting Hat said—he's a Hufflepuff, home of the kind, not the brave.

.:.

**and so, of course, his hufflepuff bravery comes out**

"Go on, Cedric," his friend Marvin urges, looking at the Goblet with wide eyes. "You could be _it_."

Cedric just laughs. Out of all the kids who are surely vying for Hogwarts champion, no sensible Goblet of Fire would choose _him_.

But he throws in the shred of paper anyway, pleasing his friends and catching the eye of one girl sitting a few yards away.

He places his name in the drawing, in doing so, sealing his fate.

.:.

She sidles up to him one day, after a particularly tough Transfiguration lesson, whispering, "Good luck in the tournament."

He is walking towards the Hufflepuff Common Room, thinking of nothing but the bed that lays ahead, but something in her voice makes him want to stop.

She's already far away, though, looking back only to flash him her bright piercing-white devil princess grin.

.:.

She's got a radar for the extraordinary boys, and he's who she keeps watching.

.:.

Whenever they announce the champions, he is not alone, and he immediately feels a tinge of jealously towards Harry Potter—who he's _already beaten_ once before—but he squashes it down, because he's a _Hufflepuff_.

.:.

**he slays a dragon, just for her**

When he hears of the First Task—from his _competitor_, oddly enough—he is sure that it will be positively horrendous. But he goes to the library anyway, searching and searching for something—_anything_—to do.

He finds a way to turn boring rocks into animals, and he thinks that maybe he'll survive this, after all.

.:.

He comes up with second place, and that is much too impressive for him to feel like he's not good enough for her.

.:.

Whenever the Yule Ball is announced, he immediately asks her to accompany him, taking the glares from boy and girls alike that he receives all in stride, the grin from her "Of course!" still on his face.

.:.

**she wears a beautiful gown to the ball**

For the next weeks, she feels like she is soaring, up on her own cloud, Cloud _Ten_.

She finds a gorgeous dress and has her friends do her hair and make-up, and she applies an extra coat of lipstick, because she's going to break some hearts tonight.

.:.

At the ball, though, it is an entirely different story. He waltzes with her gracefully, swirling her around the floor, and all the while keeping up a conversation about Quidditch with her.

She finds that he has the ability to take her off of her cloud, to bring her back down to Earth, but instead of being angry, this just draws her in more.

By the end of the night, the ittybitty part of her that once wished she went with Harry is long gone.

.:.

The next day, he seeks her out at school, asking her to meet him in the courtyard.

She does, and he kisses her.

.:.

Cho Chang has kissed many a boy before. But this boy—he makes her feel the way she made the _other_ boys feel—and the feel of his lips on hers completely blows her mind.

.:.

When they break apart, she's practically a different person.

.:.

**he rescues her from the deep sea**

The person most important to him—her, of course.

He manages to put a bubble around his head, and he dives into the lake, coming out soaked and battered and beaten, but victorious.

She's in his arms, gasping as much as him, but looking at his wet face with nothing but adoration in her dark eyes.

.:.

They talk about it, one day, while he's supposed to be preparing for the next task, but is instead wrapped up in _her_.

Popping a cherry the color of her lips into her mouth, she asks, "Why was it me? Why not your father?"

He smiles at her. "I'm not sure," he admits. "Maybe because I knew my father didn't need any saving."

"Are you implying that _I _need saving?" There is a michevious playfulness in her eyes and he looks at her with love in his eyes.

"No," he says truthfully, because there is nothing more ridiculous than _this_ girl in front of him needing to be saved. In all honesty, he doesn't know why she was chosen as the person most important to him (maybe because she _is_).

.:.

**floating**

In the time before the last task, Cho feels like she's floating—and no one, not even him, can bring her down from this euphoria.

Everything is perfect and truly, truly magical. Cedric is going to win the Triwizard Tournament (of course).

They're going to ride off into the sunset, because they are the best couple this place has _ever_ seen—the almost-Gryffindor (Hufflepuff) and the almost-Slytherin (Ravenclaw).

After all, one plus one equals two, and their equation could not be easier (love_love_love).

.:.

**one last kiss**

Before he enters the arena, she corners him, her hands on his shoulders and his arms on her waist, and their eyes on the other's—his a bit taken aback, and amused, hers all fire and business.

"Be careful," she demands of him, putting a finger to his chest accusingly. "Be careful, do you hear me?"

She ignores the traitor tears that are lurking in the back of her eyes—all of a sudden she's so damn _emotional_, and she doesn't even understand why because he's going to be _fine_.

"I will," he answers, chuckling. "I'm glad to hear that you care." He traces her cheek with his finger, looking her in those darkdark eyes.

"Of course I care!" she shrieks. "I—I _love_ you." The last part is a whisper, not meant to be heard, but he catches it.

"I love you, too," he says with all the emotion she's had this whole time, and then he kisses her searingly, one last time.

"Be careful," she whispers again when they pull apart.

"I'll try," he promises. "But there are somethings even _I _can't survive."

And then he is gone.

(For how long, she doesn't know.)

.:.

**the third task**

For the duration of the final task, she puts up a mask—_I don't care, I don't care, I don't care._

It's long and horrible, to sit in the stands, not knowing what's happening to him. But she manages, because she's Cho _Chang_, for crying out loud, and if anyone can handle tough circumstances, it's her, with her armor of make-up and prettypretty eyes.

Red sparks come up and she nearly has a heart attack, but it turns out to be that Krum guy, not him. _Not him_.

.:.

When Harry comes out the maze, carrying a body, she freezes up at first, horrorstruck, but then she spots that reddish brown head of hair, and she knows that it's okay.

_He must've gotten_ _injured_, she thinks. _Well_,_ he didn't win, but at least he's alive._

Then she hears his dad yelling, and this time everything but the tears really _does_ freeze.

.:.

**and now, our princess cries once more**

His picture is placed on her wall, _the_ first thing, when she gets home.

She puts one of just _him—_no need to crowd it up with _her_ ugly face—and she stares at it, day in and day out, wondering what he ever did and why she deserves this horrible, aching, hole in her stomach (_not_ her heart—she's not one of those soppy romantic girls that complain about broken hearts).

Oh, and she wails and whines and sobs, but mostly, she cries.

.:.

**all they were**

At the funeral, there is a mass of black, and an even bigger mass of people that didn't know him, that just want to pester Harry Potter about what went on in that graveyard.

_It's obvious what went on_, she wants to scream at the idiots that have arrived to completely disgrace Cedric's (never fading) memory, _Voldemort killed Cedric!_

A woman comes up to her at some point during the event, a great black shawl drabed across her shoulders, up to her eyeballs in dark eyeshadow. _Fake! _her mind screams.

"I am personally so, so sorry for your loss," the woman says, clasping Cho's hands in a tight grip. "If there is ever anything I can do, tell me, my dear."

She starts to walk away, and Cho is giving her a sweet and sad smile like she's been instructed, but then the lady turns back around, and opens her mouth once more.

"It hurts me to think of what you and poor Cedric could've been," the woman says dismally, gazing at her with pity. Her mouth opens, but Cho has already cut her off.

"_Could have been_?" she shrieks, more than a little outraged. "There were no _could have been_'s concerning me and Cedric. We _were_. And we _are_."

With that, she flounces away, her too-large pride a teentytiny bit wounded.

.:.

* * *

how do i live without the ones i love?  
time still turns the pages of the book it's burned  
place and time always on my mind  
and the light you left remains but it's so hard to stay  
**when i have so much to say and you're so far away**

_ —Avenged Sevenfield, So Far Away_

* * *

.:.

**moving on is hard to do**

It takes her almost a year, but finally she's able to somewhat smile again. She pines after Harry Potter, looking at his adoring glances and messy hair and pretending he's someone else.

Or maybe, she's just crushing on a random teenage boy, just trying to be _normal_ again.

.:.

All throughout her seventh year, she is a flurry of emotions and tears and mood changes. Her teachers don't know what to do with her, her friends can't handle her, and she almost feels sorry for Harry as tears for her dead ex-boyfriend trail down her face as she kisses him.

.:.

It is a relief to get out of Hogwarts, where she can be be free again, where she can fly again, like she dreamed of doing as a little girl (a little girl with hopes of fame, fortune, and beauty).

Now, she has dented wings and scraped legs and her heart still hasn't healed, but she's going to fly, because she's _Cho Chang_, and no one does better than her in hopeless situations.

.:.

**life goes on**

At the age of twenty-three, she meets Asher Curtis. He is from Scotland and knows nothing of magic, so she never tells him, no matter how much she claims to love him.

.:.

She runs into him at a donut shop, after keeling over in her car (she's been acting like a Muggle as of late) and needing something sugary.

The minute their eyes meet, she sees something in his amber eyes that rings a bell in the section of her memory that is strictly off-limits.

She is instantly intrigued by this, he by her beauty, and they make some twisted sort of desperate marriage work.

(But she never stops loving _him_, not everever_ever_.)

.:.

**swaying on ashes**

She marries Asher and remains semi-happy for the rest of her life. Except those rare moments, when she sees a girl crying on the street with no shoulder, or an article in Daily Prophet (which she sneaks from under her husband's nose) mentioning his name, or his father's name, is too much.

Sometimes just noticing that someone has that exact shade of hair hits her as hard as a blow. It's grows to be so hard, that occasionally, she'll disappear, always showing up within the year, though.

And at every single of those wretched May 2nd anniversaries, she thinks that the whole system is unbalanced and unfair, since plenty of people were killed in the war, and not on the second of May, 1998.

Cedric, Harry's parents, Mad-Eye Moody, Sirius Black, and others. She complains to Hermione Granger about it one year, who says, "Yes, you're right. We should start doing that next year—would you like to plan it out? You and Harry are probably the only ones with a right to do it, and I know that he won't want to."

Cho is stuck for a moment, debating, and then Ron Weasley comes up and kisses his fianceè on the cheek and she decides that no, she'd get too emotional, and she's married now, anyway, so it's not like she's still in love with _Cedric_ or anything.

Hermione gives her a doubtful look, but Ron is still there, rubbing her back softly, and so Cho excuses herself to run to the loo, where she sits on a closed toilet seat and cries like a little schoolgirl.

.:.

**once upon a time, there lived a king**

He is born and raised in a magical land full of ghosts and goblins and beasts. His wand is the source of his power—and his overwhelming kindness. He rules over his people with grace and prosperity.

He meets a beautiful queen with shining hair and captivating eyes while competing in a tournament. The two fall in love, and rule over his kingdom together.

Tragedy soon strikes, and the king is killed, leaving his parents to grieve for the little boy he once was, who drove plastic cars around the house with spaghetti stains on his mouth.

The queen is broken in two, but she's strong (a queen) so she survives, and the king waits for her all the while, up in the land of stars and bright lights and bubbles of happiness.

(But _nothing_ outshines _her_.)

.:.

**once upon a time, there lived a queen**

Her name is Cho, and it means butterfly. And she is definitely a butterfly with her _ohso_pretty wings that are easily broken but almost _never_ fixable.

She is of the magical sort, but she gets most of her magic from her dreams.

She is at first a bit snooty and a bit _too_ beautiful, but then she discovers a handsome king from across the sea (across the Great Hall).

In almost no time at all, she has fallen for this king, heart and soul and all, and when he is tragically, horribly killed in a tournament, she just falls.

Her entire life crumbles, but he is king, so she must be a queen, so she straightens in her throne and wipes the tears out of her darkgleamingmesmerizing eyes and smiles an _ohso_fake smile.

She claims a man of the not-so-magical sort as her own, claiming to love him. Of course, this is all a lie, though she harbors no bad feelings towards the poor Muggle man.

Some days, she wonders if it is possible to keep on falling for someone, even after they've already fallen. She finds that it is possible, it _has_ to be, because that's precisely what she spends the rest of her life doing.

She will put on that mask and pretend, but she never stops loving her king, never.

.:.

**and so they lived happily ever after**

When she opens her eyes one morning, blinking, she reaches across the bed, expecting Asher, and turning to see those beautifulamazingperfectwonderful eyes that she's been pining for all these years.

And before she even knows what's happening, he's kissing her, his lips on hers feeling natural, like they never left all those years ago.

"I'm dead," she gasps when he pulls away, those eyes still burning at her with an almost painful intensity.

"You are." He leans forward with that hair just as messy as she remembers. "_Finally_."

And then he kisses her again and she doesn't even ask him how he's been, because she knows (he's her king and she's his queen and they've been the same).

She's a prettypretty butterfly queen, but she's here to stay, regardless of her now-fixed wings.

And so they lived happily ever after.

.:.

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_fin._

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**Written For:**

**- Blue (positive) on Empress Empoleon's Colors Competition.**

**- The If You Dare Challenge, Prompt #214 (Life goes on).**

**- Hogwarts Online's Daily Prompt: "There are somethings even I can't survive."**


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